Saturday, 26 January 2008

colbert nation gloves

these aren't the gloves that stephen wore on tv, but they're definitely inspired by those. i love them!

note: i made these using the magic-loop method. i'm sure that you can adapt it for dpns or two circs. you'll need to know how to knit in the round and how to use multiple colors, but it's all easy!
this pattern makes a pair of gloves that, if you hold your palms toward you, make a u.s. flag facing the person in front of you.

i think that, if i were doing them over, i'd move the blue field right next to the thumb, but there would be more complex knitting involved in making part of it on one needle and the rest on another, so i took the easy way out :)

let me know if you find any errors or omissions--i wrote up most of this after the fact.

needles: us 5 circular
yarn: cascade 220 wool in christmas red, atlantic, and white, or other worsted-weight yarn, much less than 1 ball each.
gauge: i didn't do a swatch, but it seems to come out to about 24 stitches and 19 rows per four inches.

right glove:

1. cast on 44 stitches in red and divide evenly between the two parts of your needle.
2. knit four rows in red.
3. knit four rows in white. you don't need to break any yarn for these color changes.
4. repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times. you should have six stripes of four rows each: red, white, red, white, red, and white.
5. move the first two stitches on the second half (the knuckle side, or stitches 23 and 24) to the first needle. they're still going to be part of the knuckle side of the glove, but they're in red and white stripes rather than in blue, so it's easier to knit them here.
6. working back and forth now (knitting flat) in stockinette with these 24 stitches, continue making stripes as set for three more stripes, ending after a red stripe.
7. in first row of next (white) stripe, knit seven stitches. knit the next seven stitches onto waste yarn, slip those stitches back onto the left needle, and knit the waste-yarn stitches with the white yarn. this creates a placeholder for your thumb.
8. continue working in pattern until you have 13 stripes total: red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red. break white yarn after last white stripe (12th stripe), leaving a tail that is about 3-4 times the length of the flat-knitted portion of the glove. you'll use this to seam up this side.
9. bind off loosely and leave a tail that is about 3-4 times the length of the flat-knitted portion of the glove. you'll use this to seam up this side.
10. your needle should still be threaded through the last row of the last circularly knitted white row. starting there, work two rows in blue in stockinette.
11. on the next row, work two stockinette stitches in blue then one in white, two in blue, and so on across, ending with two blue stitches.
12. work two blue rows in stockinette.
13. work the next row of white "stars" (they're just vs now) inset one or two stitches--you had six stars on the first row, but this one has just five, each placed in between the others. i worked this row three blue stitches in, white, two blue, white, and so on, ending with four blue stitches; the next five-star row, i worked four in and ended with three blue stitches.
14. repeat steps 11 through 13 until you have 28 rows, which yields five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars, or 50 stars.
15. finish after two more rows of blue, then bind off loosely.
16. pick up the thumb stitches and remove the waste yarn. knit these stitches in the round for four to eight rounds (however long you want your thumb to be; i like eight) in your desired color, then bind off loosely.
17. if desired, sew a little horizontal bar of white across each white v in the blue field to make a star.
18. seam up sides and weave in ends.

left glove

1. begin as for right glove--use steps 1-5 in instructions for that glove.
2. continue pattern as set, in the round, until you have nine stripes.
3. in first row of next (white) stripe, knit eight stitches. knit the next seven stitches onto waste yarn, slip those stitches back onto the left needle, and knit the waste-yarn stitches with the white yarn. this creates a placeholder for your thumb.
4. continue in pattern until you have 13 stripes, finishing with a red one, then bind off loosely.
5. create thumb as for right glove (see step 16).
6. weave in ends.

Comments

oh man. i'd love those. i'd be embarrassed to wear them here (australia) because not everyone knows about colbert nation. i wouldn't want to seem like a bushie. i get razzed enough over here just being an american. oh thank you, mr bush.